“A Rose for Emily” SymbolismIn “A Rose for Emily” by William Faulkner symbolism is used throughout the entire story. A symbol “in literature [is], a person, place, or thing that suggests more than its literal meaning” (Kennedy 223). William Faulkner used symbolism constantly in many of his stories, so he was very familiar with creating symbols and giving them meanings that the wanted the readers to understand. There is a main symbol and then there are some symbols that are still important to the story, even though they are not the main symbols. Without these smaller symbols this story would not have the same meaning. Two important symbols that stuck out to me are the rose and “the long strand of iron-gray hair” (Faulkner 35). In real life a rose represents love (or sometimes, even “I am sorry”), but in this story the rose represents Miss Emily’s love for Homer Barron and that she would do anything to be with him for the rest of her life.

While reading “A Rose for Emily,” I encountered many symbols. The two symbols that stuck out to me the most were the rose and Miss Emily’s hair. The first symbol is encountered when reading the title, “A Rose for Emily.” The rose symbolizes love, the love Miss Emily has for Homer Barron. Another symbol that really made an impression on me was Miss Emily’s “long strand of iron-gray hair,” (Faulkner 35) which represents time. The narrator states: “Already we knew that there was one room in the region above stairs which no one had seen in forty years, and which would have to be forced” (Faulkner 35). If this room had not been seen in forty years and had to be forced open, how is it possible for a gray strand of hair to be on a pillow next to Homer Barron’s body, when Miss Emily’s hair was not gray forty years before that?

When the narrator stated, “And that was the last we saw of Homer Barron” (Faulkner 34), it became very clear what the symbol of the rose meant. Without this statement or without any statement about...

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Symbolism in “A Rose for Emily”
In the short story, “A Rose for Emily” by William Faulkner, symbolism is used frequently. There are several different symbols that appear as the story plays out. Faulkner uses symbolism to express many diverse thoughts. In the story Faulkner uses a rose to symbolize love, Emily's house is used to symbolize Emily as a monument, and Homer Baron is used to symbolize the North and change.
The rose is a symbol for love. In the story, Homer is considered the
“rose” or the love for Emily. Emily's father sheltered her and believed no man was good enough for her. Her father’s actions deprived Emily from experiencing love before Homer came into her life. Since Homer was Emily’s first love she never wants to lose Homer. This is why she keeps Homer, her “rose”, after he has died.
Emily's house symbolizes Emily as a monument. The house used to be one of the nicest houses on the street. During the time the story takes place the house is old and decaying. Emily too has grown older and has worn with time. In the story Emily is portrayed as a stubborn woman. She refuses to change as society and the town evolve around her. The house, like Emily, seems out of place in a changing society. Because...

...A Rose For Emily
“A Rose for Emily”, by William Faulkner discusses that change should be recognized by everyone. What was in the past for Emily, should be left in past. Although her father and Colonel Satoris are dead, Emily refuses to accept the fact that her loved ones are gone. In Emily's case she wanted to change a number of times but never had the support of her own town. The townsfolk don't understand why Emily won't change, but in reality she cannot change. Locking herself inside a bubble trying to cope with the mere fact of her losses and not many gains throughout her life.
Emily encounters different complications as her father, and Colonel Satoris are deceased. Emily now being alone with no one to take care of her, so to speak she receives some type of sympathetic curiosity from the townsfolk. When a new major took place in the town, there was some confusion held towards Miss Emily. "I have no taxes in Jefferson. Colonel Sartoris explained it to me. Perhaps one of you can gain access to the city records and satisfy yourselves." (Faulkner, 288). Emily seemed convinced that she did not own any taxes to Jefferson because her father had donated large amounts of money to the town. In any case the townsfolk were surprised but yet glad with Miss Emily's decision. The townsfolk many times show mixed feelings...

...Escaping Loneliness
In "A Rose for Emily," William Faulkner's use of setting and characterization foreshadows and builds up to the climax of the story. His use of metaphors prepares the reader for the bittersweet ending. A theme of respectability and the loss of, is threaded throughout the story. Appropriately, the story begins with death, flashes back to the past and hints towards the demise of a woman and the traditions of the past she personifies. Faulkner has carefully crafted a multi-layered masterpiece, and he uses setting, characterization, and theme to move it along. Miss Emily's house as the setting of the story is a perfect metaphor for the events occurring during that time period. It portrays the decay of Miss Emily's life and values and of the southern way of life and their clash with the newer generations. The house is situated in what was once a prominent neighborhood that has now deteriorated. Miss Emily's "big, squarish frame house that had once been white, decorated with cupolas and spires and scrolled balconies in the heavily lightsome style of the seventies of an earlier time," now looked awkward surrounded by "cotton wagons" and "gasoline pumps." The townspeople consider it "an eyesore among eyesores." Time has taken a similar role with Miss Emily altering her appearance from that of a "slender figure in white" (624) to that of "a small, fat...

...Edgar Delalamon
A ROSE FOR EMILY
BY WILLIAM FAULKNER The narrator describes what happens after Emily dies. Emily’s body is laid out in the parlor, and the women, town elders, and two cousins attend the service.
The narrator describes the fear that some of the townspeople have that Emily will use the poison to kill herself.
The narrator recalls the time of Emily Grierson’s death and how the entire town attended her funeral in her home, which no stranger had entered for more than ten years.
The narrator describes a time thirty years earlier when Emily resists another official inquiry on behalf of the town leaders, when the townspeople detect a powerful odor emanating from her property.
The narrator describes a long illness that Emily suffers after this incident.
After some time has passed, the door to a sealed upstairs room that had not been opened in forty years is broken down by the townspeople. The room is frozen in time, with the items for an upcoming wedding and a man’s suit laid out. Homer Barron’s body is stretched on the bed as well, in an advanced state of decay. The onlookers then notice the indentation of a head in the pillow beside Homer’s body and a long strand of Emily’s gray hair on the pillow.
The summer after her father’s death, the town contracts workers to pave the sidewalks, and a construction company, under the direction of northerner Homer Barron,...

...“A Rose for Emily”
Character Analysis of Miss Emily Grierson
“A Rose for Emily” written by William Faulkner, is a story of Miss Emily Grierson, a woman who was born into a wealthy family in the town of Jefferson. She grew up and lived in a huge Victorian home with servants. After the Civil War, it seems that her family’s wealth started to diminish but the Grierson’s were still trapped in the past of their family’s wealth. Emily Grierson’s past and present life is being recalled by a narrator who expresses the attitudes and ideas of the community. The narrator uses phrases like “We knew”, “We said”, and “We believed” to show the towns involvement. The townspeople pity Miss Emily and look at her as “fallen monument.
Miss Emily is from a classic wealthy southern family, whose name was well respected in the town of Jefferson. Miss Emily had been placed on a pedestal all her life. Because her family held itself higher than what they really were, Emily’s father thought no man was good enough for her and drove all the male suitors who came to court her away. When Miss Emily’s father died, she kept the body in the house for three days not allowing anyone to come and remove him. Faulkner gives us a peek into the depth of the relationship that Miss Emily had with her father and it was more than just the normal father-...

...Emily Grierson, referred to as Miss Emily throughout the story, is the main character of 'A Rose for Emily,' written by William Faulkner. Emily is born to a proud, aristocratic family sometime during the Civil War; Miss Emily used to live with her father and servants, in a big decorated house. The Grierson Family considers themselves superior than other people of the town. According to Miss Emily's father none of the young boys were suitable for Miss Emily. Due to this attitude of Miss Emily's father, Miss Emily was not able to develop any real relationship with anyone else, but it was like her world revolved around her father.
When her father passed away, it was a devastating loss for Miss Emily. The lines from the story 'She told them her father was not dead. She did that for three days,' (Charter 171) conveys the message that she tried to hold on to him, even after his death. Even though, this was a sad moment for Emily, but she was liberated from the control of her father. Instead of going on with her life, her life halted after death of her father. Miss Emily found love in a guy named Homer Barron, who came as a contractor for paving the sidewalks in town. Miss Emily was seen in buggy on Sunday afternoons with Homer Barron. The whole town thought they would get married. One could know this by the...

...﻿A Rose for Emily
William Faulkner’s “A Rose for Emily” is based around the telling of the life and habits of a fictional character, Emily Grierson. She is deeply disturbed and equally provocative in many ways. The narrator of the story as well as the many different townspeople give insight as to who Emily is, how she acts and what she does. Some literary analysts like Elizabeth Kurtz claim that therose in the story, which is only given to Emily by the title, is a symbol for Emily’s denial of change (Kurtz). It is this denial of change that drives Emily to madness? Other superior analysts, like James M. Wallace, claim that none of the gossip in the story really matters, and people should only scrutinize the narrator. Faulkner himself was once quoted saying, “Given a choice between grief and nothing, I’d choose grief” (Famous Quotes). This statement is seen in the story on many occasions. Emily chooses the grieving for her father, her suitor, and even her taxes over the nothingness of living without them, which is very ironic. Emily chooses not to grieve for them but to let them live on as though nothing happened to them. She is as unchanging as the rose given to her by William Faulkner. Her habits and actions are totally bizarre. But this bizarre behavior through the scope of many different...

...﻿ “A rose for Emily”
“A Rose for Emily” is a story about Emily Grierson who kills her Yankee boyfriend Homer Barron and lives with his body in her bedroom for over forty years. However, the story is not really about Miss Emily’s actions, but more about the society that made her into who she is and how it conflicted with the ever changing post southern civil war society. Miss Emily grew up as part of an aristocratic Southern family, with an overpowering father who refused to allow her to be courted by the young men of the town. It is Emily’s father who first elevated her to idol status by keeping her segregated from her peers, and giving her this ego by putting her on such a high pedestal. Emily’s father is a proud man of his Southern heritage and of his family’s status in town, which further perpetuates the legacy and ego of their house hold name. After her father’s death, the town continues to idolize Miss Emily as a monument of their old southern era before the war. Faulkner states this fact at the very beginning of the story when he says,
“Alive, Miss Emily had been a tradition, a duty, and a care; a sort of hereditary obligation upon the town” (Faulkner 29).
Miss Emily did represent a tradition towards the old South and their ways in the eyes of the town. Miss Emily is referred to as an “idol” by Faulkner multiple...